Roedd pawb bod yn debyg i gael hwyl, a dw i’n meddwl bod ceisio helpu ei gilydd yn siared a deall torrodd i lawr yn tipyn bach y nervusrwydd sy’n ymosod pawb sy’n canolpwnt y sylw pan mae’r athro yn holi cwestiwn iddyn nhw. Awgrymodd un o’r canolraddau wedi hyn a ddylwn i trefnu y grypiau tro nesaf fel bod y pobl yn leai brofiadol sy’n cael holi y cwestiyniau, a’r lleill sy’n rhaid iddyn nhw deall ac ateb – syniad da, dw i’n meddwl!---------------------------------------This week the intermediate and advanced classes (level 2 and level 3) met as one, since the level 2 teacher, Elis Owens, wasn't able to attend. Rather than my bouncing back and forth between the two groups, I decided to combine them in a "dosbarth i gyd" - a class of the whole. I provided a handout containing some conversational topics and sentence templates, and went through it first with the intermediates. Then I spent some time with the whole group, asking questions to individuals in Welsh and getting answers in the same language - simple things like "what did you do over the weekend?" and "how was the weather yesterday?" After everyone was warmed up, I split the class into two groups (each containing intermediates and beginners) and let them get on with having Welsh conversations among themselves, while I moved back and forth monitoring and sometimes contributing.

Everyone seemed to have a good time, and I think trying to help each other speak and understand broke down somewhat the nervousness that attacks anyone who's the focus of attention when the teacher asks them a question. One of the intermediates suggested afterwards that I set the groups up next time so it's the less experienced people who get to ask the questions, and the others who have to understand what they've heard and answer -- a good idea, I think!

Ddim ysgrifenu dros y penwythnos - roedden ni Dydd Sadwrn yn digwyddiad SCA, ac ddoe roeddwn i'n gweithio yn yr ardd. Gobeithio bydd y penwythnos nesaf yn wahanol!---------------------------------------------------------------Autumn is slipping slowly away. Last weekend was warm and beautiful, with the leaves of almost all the trees having turned yellow or flame-red or gold. Soon they will be flying on the wind, and falling to the earth. We are getting frost almost every night now, and many of the summer plants have died. Yesterday I cut down the last tomatoe plants, which were already dead. I have still lots of red and green tomatoes in the garage and squash in the kitchen, and the green onions are still growing in the vegetable garden, but everything else is done. So quickly the season has gone!

No writing over the weekend - we were at an SCA event Saturday, and yesterday I was working in the garden. Hopefully next weekend will be different!

----------------------------------------------Last night was another cold night. This morning there was heavy frost everywhere - on my truck, on the grass, and on the flowers. There was thick ice on the birdbath for the second time. When I came home yesterday, the tomato plants were dead. I'll have to pull them up next weekend. Everything in the cold-frame and under the plastic was fine.

I have been thinking, as I do sometimes, how autumn was for people in the middle ages. Summer was gone, with its fruits and its fine weather, and winter was coming soon - a dark, cold and hard time. The autumn was the last opportunity to celebrate - the end of the light half of the year.

------------------------------------------The weather was cold here Saturday and Sunday - clouds, drizzle, and a nasty little wind from the north. I picked the last tomatoes - the greater part of them still green - and the cucumbers and the basil, and put some plants in the cold-frame. This morning everything in the vegetable garden is frozen. The tomato leaves have a thick clear coat of ice, looking like water - but dry hard water. Maybe the squash is still alive under its plastic tent - I don't know. Summer has gone indeed.

(Dim ysgrifenu dros y Sul, dim ond garddio. Gobeithio, mi fydda' i'n gwneud mwy y penwythnos nesa'.)--------------------------------------------------------Summer's gone. This morning when I came out of the house, I saw we'd had a heavy frost overnight. I had covered the last tomatoes and the squash, but I don't know if they have survived. It doesn't matter, really, because more frost will arrive Saturday - and possibly a bit of snow! Autumn is here now!

(No writing this weekend, only gardening. Hopefully I'll get more done next weekend.)

Friday, October 3, 2008

Lots of this and that going on. Last weekend I finished another chapter of The Ash Spear, which makes 16 so far of an estimated 30 - figures on the sidebar as usual. Also Welsh classes started this week, and as a result I've been busy setting up a mailing list group and a blog for the class.

The garden is winding down, and I think we will probably have frost Sunday or Monday night - time to pick the rest of the tomatoes, protect the squash, and start moving semi-hardly plants into the cold frame for the winter. Then comes the garden clean-up... In and around this activity I hope to be writing more this weekend - the story is moving into a new phase, which should be interesting.

And the next book in the series...

Journeyman bard Gwernin Storyteller accompanies a Welsh princess to Ireland for her wedding. But other members of the party have their own objectives... Set five years after The Ash Spear, this will be the 4th book in the Storyteller series, and the beginning of a new trilogy. Scheduled for publication in late 2015.

Poetry Books

My published poetry series so far includes King Arthur's Raid on Hell and Pryderi's Pigs. Coming soon: Storyteller Songs, a collection of poetry and prose from the first three books of the Storyteller series.